The Senegalese government has suspended social media platform TikTok, over concerns that the app is used to spread hateful messages, threatening the stability of the country.
The country’s Minister of Communication, Telecommunications, and the Digital Economy, Hon. Moussa Bocar Thiam, announced this via a statement on Wednesday.
The statement reads,
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“The minister informs the public that it has been observed that the TikTok application is the social network favored by people with bad intentions to spread hateful and subversive messages threatening the stability of the country”.
This decision by the Senegalese government is coming two days after it restricted the use of mobile internet in the country, due to hateful and subversive messages on social media, following calls for protests over the arrest of opposition politician Ousmane Sonko. He was charged with plotting an insurrection, criminal conspiracy, and other offenses.
It is worth noting that Senegal has witnessed sporadic violent protests throughout the year, as opposition supporters have accused President Macky Sall of leveling charges against Sonko to disqualify him from the next election.
Political party in Senegal, PASTEF communiqué, said that President Macky Sall in his despotic determination to hold on to power in the country, albeit by Proxy, has just opened the floodgates to chaos by imprisoning his opposition on spurious grounds.
Macky Sall’s opposition, Sonko, said a local judge in the capital Dakar ordered him held temporarily following fresh charges against him, which includes conspiracy against the state and calls for insurrection. The charges are different from an earlier one of corrupting youth.
That led to Sonko’s conviction in June this year, which ignited deadly protests across the nation with 23 people killed. Sonko is popular among Senegal’s youth and has been seen as a threat to the ruling party ahead of the 2024 election.
His supporters have said the charges are to prevent him from running again for president after he placed third in 2019 race.
The fierce politician announced while in detention that he was going on a hunger strike, urging his supporters to stand up and resist oppression. He is currently facing a string of legal woes he claims are aimed at keeping him out of politics.
With the current ban on the short-form video platform, TikTok, which the Senegalese government termed as a tool used to spread hateful content, it will only intensify the political crisis and civil unrest in the country.
These act of government nations shutting down access to the internet and different social media platforms, has become prevalent among African countries.
A reference to when the Nigerian government in October 2020 shut down citizens’ access to Twitter during the EndSARS protest against police brutality.
These shutdowns typically occur during periods of political unrest, elections, or government crackdowns on dissenting voices. Governments have cited reasons such as national security, maintaining law and order, or preventing the spread of misinformation as their justifications for these actions.
Meanwhile, shutting down social media platforms has been a controversial measure, often criticized by human rights organizations and advocates of free speech, as it restricts citizens’ access to information and limits their ability to communicate.